Vending machine



April 30, 1935. c. WALKER I VENDING MACHINE Filed Oct. 21, 1931 PatentedApr. 30, 1935' NT oF'FI cE VENDING MACHINE. Charles Walker, Knoxville,enn. Application October 21, 1931, serial No. 570,076 eams. (01. 312-47)I My invention consists in new and useful improvements iii-coincontrolledvending machines "and has for its object-to provide adevice'of this character capable oftholding a large number of articlessuch as spools ofthread and the like, and vendingthe same eitherindividually or in predetermined numbers commensurate withthe value ofthecoin' inserted. i Another-"object of my invention is to'provide meanswhereby the delivery of more thana predetermined number of articles ispositively :pre-

vented. V a With the aboveand other objects in view which will appear asthe description proceeds, my invention consists in'the novel featuresherein set forth, illustrated. in the accompanying drawing and moreparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

:Referring to the drawing in which-numerals of I likecharacter designatesimilarparts throughout the several views, I Fig. 1 is averticallongitudinal section through the machine with the parts shown in normalinoperative position'. I .Fig. :2 is a similar-viewof the.vendingmechanism shown in Fig. l with theparts'shown in pro-deliveryposition. i

Fig. 3: is :a plan view of .the coin controlled mechanism, and .1 Fig. 4is :atransverse sectional View: of the delivery element. In the drawing,I represents the housing of the vending machine which is provided in itsupper portion with a partition 2 downwardly inclined toward the front toform a magazine 3for retain- .ing the articles to be vended. Thismagazine may -be.filled-in any suitable manner or it may be connected bymeans of a chute 4 to a source of supply. The partition ZLterminatesatits" forward extremity .in a downwardly extending wall.;5 whichisspacedrearwardly from the front wall of the housing Ito define adelivery passageway 6. .JThe

front wall of the housing. I is provided adjacent the deliverypassageway with a receptacle.- 1 for receiving the delivered articles,the wall beneath said receptacle being inset as at 8 towardthe' wall 5of the partition. .7

' 9: represents a deliveryjelement which is preferably substantiallyrectangular in shape and lies in' the delivery passageway 6 between thewall- 5 of the partition and the inset portion 8 of the front wall ofthe housing, the horizontal extremities of said element being verticallygrooved as at LII) to engage guide members as shown'in Fig.

4, whereby said delivery-element is capable of a A verticalreciprocation in the rear portion of the passageway 6 as willhereinafter appear. The upper extremity of the deliveryelement 9 forms acarriage l2 and is provided with a vertical p-rojection 'or rib l3 onitsfront side, said carriage being adapted to normally lie immediatelyadjacent the front end of the inclined partition 2% shown in Fig. 1.-The front face of the delivery member 9 is recessed intermediate itsvertical extremities as at M, said recess being so located thatwhen thedelivery member is in its uppermost position, the recess will liedirectly across from a restricting'projectionI5 on thefront wall of thehousing I. Downward movement'of the delivery element 9 is limited by alug l6 carried by the frontwall of the housing adjacent the lowerextremity of the delivery passageway.

Reciprocating motion may be transmitted to the delivery element by anysuitable means, that shown in the drawing consisting of a coinreleasedplunger ll reciprocably mounted in suitablebearings and projectingthrough the front wall of the housing where it terminates in' a handlel8; This plunger ll carries on its upper sidea lug l9 adapted to engagethe freeend of an arm"2ll which is pivotally carried-as at 21 by thelower end of the deliveryelement 9. Thus on the'forward movement oftheplunger E1, the lug l9 through the mediiun'of the arm 29 willcausethe delivery-element 9 tomove vertically in. the delivery.passageway into the" position shown in Fig. 2.:. .Upon releasing thehandle [8 of thenplunger I7, the partsare returned to normal position bymeans of a coil spring .22 which surroundsthe plunger. ll andabuts acollar 23 fixedito said plunger, and spring 22a whichoperatively-engagesthe delivery element 9 and normally tends' to urge the latterdownwardly;

As in the case of the actuatingmechanism, various forms of coin controlmechanism may be employed in connection withmy invention. For example,as shown in Figs. land 3', the plunger ll is verticallyand'longitudinally. recessed as; at 24 which recesslliesdirectly'be'neath the discharge endlof a'coin chute 25. Y Within thisreat one end to the plunger l1, whereby the upper edge of the coin X isheld slightly above a curved lip 3| on the forward edge of the deliverychute 25 for the purpose hereinafter set forth. In the position shown inFig. 1, the coin is prevented from displacement by means of a verticallyextending stationary arm 32 carried by the bottom wall of the housing.

Having thus described the structure of the preferred form of myinvention, its operation is as follows:-'- V Assuming that the magazine3is filled with articles such as spools of thread or the like, and d themechanism is in the position shown in Fig. "1. In the absence of a coinfrom the m'echanism, the forward movement of the plunger I! by the.

handle 18 will bring the free end 28 ofthe coin retaining arm 26 intoengagement with .th'estationary lug 29, thus preventing the operation ofthe vending device. Upon the insertion or a coin in the chute 25, if itbe of- -the proper; denomination, said coin will drop ontothegretainingarm 26 in the slot 24-of the plunger" where it will be held in place bythe vertical arm 32. Now the forward movement of the plunger ll willbring the upper edge of .the coin into engagement with the lip 35 onthechute and cause the arm 26 to swing downwardly-onthe pivot 21 asufficient distance for the upper end 28, to clear the lug 29. Thispermits the continued forward movement of the plunger ll which bringsthe lug [9 onthe plunger into engagement with ,the free end of thearm28. whereby thedelivery element 9 is moved upwardly into the positionshown in Fig. 2. ,In this position, the recess 14 in the deliveryelement lies directly opposite the restricting projection, l5, and thelowermost article A moves by gravity partially into. said recess 14, thearticle next above being prevented from entering said recess by theforward face of 'the element 9. r 1 Upon releasing the handle N3, theplunger H is caused to return to its normal position by the spring 22whereupon the collar 23 kicks the lower end of the arm .20 inwardly andpermits the 'delivery element 9 to descend. During this movement, thelowermost article A rides into the recess l4, past the projection 15"and isJdelivered into the receptacle 1. It, will be noted that as thedelivery element 9 moves downwardly, the recess l4 carrying thelowermost article-A passes the projection 15 before the article next:above has had an'opportunity to *descendjurther'than said projection,and thus the delivery of more than one article is prevented, the othersbeing 7 retained bythe restriction in the passageway.

Referring again to the upward movement of the delivery element ,9, itwill be noted that in Fig. l the'forwardmost'article-B on thep'artition2 has rolled by gravityonto the carriage I2 and is preventedfrom furtherforwardmovement by the verticalprojection I3. Nownpon the upwardmovement 'ofthe elenientS, the article B will be elevated as shown in'FigQ2 and the article C next in line will roll by gravity until it abutsthe rear face of element BLYTheretuIn of le ment 9 to its lowermostpositioneauses the lower portion of the article B to engage the upperportion of article C whereupon the former is pushed over the projection131 and fed to the delivery passageway. e

When the plunger I! is in its forwardmost position, it will be notedthat the coin X has been moved past the vertical arm 32 whereuponreceptacle on the down-stroke.

it is permitted to drop from the retaining arm 26 into any suitable coinreceptacle not shown.

From the foregoing it is believed that the construction, operation andadvantages of my invention may be readily understood by those skilled inthe art without further description, it being borne in mind thatnumerous changes may be made in the details of construction withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention as set outin the followingclaims. For example, while I have shown the device as adapted to deliverindividual spools of thread, it is obvious that by increasing the'sizeof the recess I4, two or more spools of thread may be delivered asdesired. Furthermore, the machine may be used for vending variousdifferent types of articles with equal effect;

. What/I claim andsdesire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

, '1."A" vending machine comprising a casing, a

partition in said casingydownwardlyinclineditopward the front,formingyan article magazine, a delivery passageway leading from saidmagazine and, terminating below said partition in'a receptacle, avertically reciprocable-delivery member 'adjacent said passageway,acarriage at the upper end of. said-deliverymember adapted to normallylie adjacent the forward extremity of 'said partition and receive theforemost article f ed by gravity from the latter, and means forreciprocating said delivery member, the upward movement :of

said delivery member causing said foremost :article to be elevated toa'positionwabovethe-adjacent row of articles on said. partitionand-piermitting the article next in line to advance by gravity "to aposition substantially beneath a .portion of said elevated article;whereby :upon the return movement of said delivery member, said elevatedarticleiabuts said article next inaline and is dislodged, from saidcarriage; andideposited in said delivery passageway.

2. A vending machine comprising partition 'in. saidcasing,downwardlyinclined toward the front, forming an 'article magazine,-a;delivery;passageway=1eading from :said magazine and terminatingcbelow:said partition in a receptacle, a vertically reciprocableldeliverymember restricting a mention 'of said passageway, a carriage at theupper end of said delivery member adapted to normally lie adjacent theforwardextremity of said partition and receive the iforemos't :arti'cle:fed-by. gravity from the latter, means for reciprocating said deliverymember whereby the upward movement of. said member. causes said foremostarticle to be elevatedi toaposition above the adjacent row of articleson 'said-martition, permitting the article 'next in =line to advance bygravity to a position substantially beneath :a portion of said elevatedarticle, the returnmovemerit of "said delivery member causing said ele-,vated article to abut saidarticle next-in:line,-'dis- Judging theformer from said carriage'zandide- .pbsitingthe same. in :said deliverypassageway,

a casing, a

and means 'on said delivery :member adapted to .receive the lowermostarticle in saidpassageway on the up-stro'ke' and deliver the same-tosaid 3. A vending machine comprising a casing, a partition. in saidcasingydownwardly'inclined toward-the front, forming an articlemagazinaa delivery passageway leading from said magazine and terminatingbelow saidgpartition in a receptacle, the mouth of "said :passage'w'aybeing restrict'ed, a vertically recipr'ocable deliverymember adjacentsaid passageway sand'forming; one. wall thereof, a carriage at the upperend of said delivery member adapted to normally lie adjacent the forwardextremity of said partition-and receive the foremost article fed bygravity from the latter, a recess in said delivery member adjacent saidpassageway and adapted to normally lie below the restricted mouth of thelatter, and means for reciprocating said delivery member, the upwardmovement of said member causing said foremost article to be elevated toa position above the adjacent row of articles on said partition andpermitting the article next in line toadvance by gravity to a positionsubstantially beneath a portion of said elevated article, whereby uponthe return movement of said delivery member, said elevated article abutssaid article next in line and is dislodged from said carriage anddeposited in said delivery passageway, said upward movementsimultaneously bringing said recess to a point adjacent the restrictedportion of said passageway to permit the delivery of an articletherefrom upon the down-stroke of said delivery member.

4.-A vending machine comprising a casing, a partition in said casing,downwardly inclined toward the front, forming an article magazine, a

delivery passageway leading from said magazine and terminating belowsaid partition in a receptacle, stationary means for restricting oneside of the mouth of said passageway, a vertically movable member forrestricting the opposite side of said mouth, means for moving said lastnamed member past said stationary restriction to enlarge saidpassageway, a carriage at the upper end of said movable member adaptedto normally lie adjacent the forward extremity of said partition andreceive the foremost article fed by gravity from the latter, and meanson said carriage for normally preventing articles from said part1movement of said carriage elevating the article carried thereby to aposition above the adjacent row of articles on said partition andpermitting the article next in line to advance by gravity to a positionsubstantially beneath a portion of said elevated article, whereby uponthe return movement of said carriage, said elevated article abuts saidarticle next in line and is dislodged from said carriage and depositedin said passageway.

5. A vending machine as claimed in claim 4 wherein said movable memberis of less thickness than that of the article carried thereby and ismounted in suitable guideways.

6. A vending machine comprising a casing, a partition in said casing,downwardly inclined toward the front, forming an article magazine, adelivery passageway leading from said magazine and terminating belowsaid partition in a receptacle, a vertically reciprocable deliverymember tion, from entering said passageway, the upward adjacent saidpassageway, the upp r end of which is adapted to normally lie adjacentthe forward extremity of said partition and to receive the foremostarticle fed by gravity from the latter, and means for reciprocating saiddelivery member, the upward movement of said delivery member causingsaid foremost article to be elevated to a position above the adjacentrow of articles on said partition and permitting the article next inline to advance by gravity to a position substantially beneath a portionof said elevated article, whereby upon the return movement'of saiddelivery member, said elevated article abuts said article next in lineand is forced off of said delivery member and deposited in said deliverypassageway.

CHARLES WALKER.

